By EDWARD SEVERN, Staff Writer
BROWNSVILLE — The Brownsville St. Joseph Bloodhounds are TAPPS 5A District 4 champions after defeating the Incarnate Word Academy Angels 60-45 on Wednesday.
The Bloodhounds (27-4, 6-0) will finish their district season next Wednesday with a trip to Victoria to face the St. Joseph Flyers and Friday against the Corpus Christi John Paul II Centurions.
“Tonight, we wanted to come in and clinch the district championship,” Bloodhounds coach Sam Lucio said. “We have bigger goals, but one of our goals was to win district.”
“Today was a good win, but we want to go deep.”
Junior Gerry Maritnez was hot from deep early. Martinez’s 3 from well beyond the arc gave the Bloodhounds a 7-6 lead, and then he scored three the old-fashioned way to further extend the lead.
Sophomore Lucas Christiano fed senior Nick Jackson for a layup and swished a 3 before Martinez pulled up again from deep to give the Bloodhounds a 20-8 lead during the closing moments of the first quarter.
“I got it going in the first,” Martinez said.
The Angels received good production from their big men and cut the lead to 20-13.
But Bloodhounds senior Bernie Garza got going, hitting from deep and scoring a couple of layups in transition. Senior Martin Tapia finished acrobatically at the rim before the half to put the Bloodhounds up 34-17 at the break.
St. Joseph continued where it left off during the third quarter. Martinez finished some slick layups to give the team a 44-25 lead late in the fourth.
“I have been working on my layup package at practice, just trying to get better,” Martinez said.
Senior Luigi Cristiano found senior Josh Cisneros with a sweet, no-look pass, and Martinez hit another one from downtown to give the Bloodhounds a 51-28 lead to start the fourth quarter.
The Angels chipped away at the advantage, but the Bloodhounds built an insurmountable edge as they saw out the game down the stretch.
“I love passing the ball, and when the shooters make shots it is more fun,” Cristiano said. “It felt like we clinched district last Saturday, but it was official today. Felt good then, and it feels good now.”